


midnights and medical school (or, Mikasa and Annie’s advice on book-hogging and first dates)

by astralelegies



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Medical, Books, F/F, Late Night Conversations, Libraries, Mikannie Week 2016, annie has no chill at 2am, book hogging, day 2: alternate universe, med school au, neither does mikasa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 17:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7276441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralelegies/pseuds/astralelegies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikasa is pre-med. Annie is a student at the same university. They meet in the campus library at 2am when Mikasa is monopolizing the book that Annie has been trying to check out for months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	midnights and medical school (or, Mikasa and Annie’s advice on book-hogging and first dates)

**Author's Note:**

> I actually have a very elaborate (and very long) Mikasa/Annie fantasy AU in the works right now, but since it’s Mikannie week and I wanted to participate, I wrote this for the day two prompt instead. Somewhat inspired by my recent viewing of the fantastic movie _Saving Face_.

Mikasa never really intended to be in the library at two in the morning on a school night, but it seemed to keep happening anyway. 

It didn’t help that Armin kept bailing on her, because he needed to “get his rest” and “sleep is good for you, Mikasa, you should try it.” Along with Eren, he was supposed to be her study buddy, but neither of the boys was pre-med, and that meant she always ended up with more homework than them. This was her third late night in a row, tucked into the same chair in the same corner in the medicinal research section of the campus library. There were no windows nearby to speak of, but she was granted a lovely view of the first-floor help desk. The graduate student standing behind it looked almost as tired as Mikasa felt. 

She stretched, yawning, and frowned down at the textbook in front of her. It was an older volume—out of print now, and there hadn’t been many copies of it to begin with—that wasn’t on her syllabus, but she’d picked it up a couple of months ago browsing the shelves and discovered that it made the perfect resource for her paper on autoimmune pathology. A paper that was due in a week now, and she’d only finished half of it. 

She realized that she’d been staring at the same page for the past thirty minutes and wondered if sleep wasn’t such a bad idea after all, but decided to press on. If she could just finish one more paragraph of her paper she’d have a better grip on the whole thing in the morning. 

A slamming sound jolted her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see a girl march up to the help desk and slam her hands down on the table. The grad student jumped.

“Um…can I help you?”

The girl glared at her. “I need a book.”

The grad student cast a nervous glance around. “You know, this is a library, you should really be more—

“Quiet? I’ll be quiet as soon as you tell me why I’ve been on the waiting list for _Dr. Grisha’s Guide to Autoimmune Deficiency Research_ for the past _three months_.” 

“Look.” The grad student sighed. “You want it that badly? Ackerman’s been reading it for the past three nights.” She pointed to where Mikasa was sitting. “Now can you please just let the library continue operating in peace?”

Instead, the girl leveled her scowl at Mikasa, stalking over to her. 

“Give it to me.”

“Excuse me?”

“That book. I need it.”

“So do I,” Mikasa said, holding the book away indignantly. 

The girl grit her teeth. “Listen. I have a paper due next week and my professor recommended that title, only the campus bookstore doesn’t carry it and the only other copy the library has was returned with too much water damage to read the last ten chapters. I need that book.” 

“Oh yeah? Well I have a paper due next week too, _and_ I got here first, so back off.”

They glowered at each other in silence a few moments. 

“We could…share it,” Mikasa offered grudgingly. The girl raised an eyebrow. 

“And how’s that going to work?”

“We meet at the library and use it together.”

“That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s that or no book at all.”

“ _Fine_ ,” the girl spat, “but I’m not going to like it.”

“Neither am I.” 

And so it began.

The girl’s name, as Mikasa later found out, was Annie Leonhardt, and she was a biology major in the same year. They agreed to meet the next evening at eight, in the same spot, and Mikasa arrived half an hour early to try and get some studying done in peace. At 8:06 Annie slouched her way into the building and glanced around, hands shoved into the pockets of her hoodie, frowning when her gaze landed on Mikasa. 

“You came.”

Mikasa returned the expression. “I keep my promises.”

Annie dropped to a seat on the couch next to her, leaning over her shoulder. 

“I can’t start with this chapter.”

“Then what chapter _do_ you suggest we start with?”

Annie lifted the book from her grasp and paged through it. She pointed to a section of underlined text. “Here.”

“I’ve already read this part.”

“Then read it again.”

They spent the next three hours doing more arguing than reading, until the grad student on duty kicked them out of the library for being too noisy.

Annie shook her head in disgust. “I can’t believe her nerve.”

Mikasa nodded. “She can’t just kick us out of the library, we have a right to be there.”

“We weren’t even being that loud.” 

“I’m going to file a complaint.”

Annie turned to her. “Wanna go somewhere else instead?”

Mikasa shrugged, following as Annie set off down the sidewalk. They wound up standing in front of the doors to the main gym. 

“It’s closed,” said Mikasa.

“I know,” said Annie. She grabbed the ledge of one of the windows and hoisted herself up. “C’mon.” She paused. “Unless you’re too _scared_.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Mikasa followed her up. They sat together on the roof, legs dangling over the side. 

“ _This_ is your idea of a good place to study?”

Annie rolled her eyes. “It’s quiet. It’s private. What more do you want?”

“I don’t know, maybe an internet connection and a stable place to put my textbooks.”

“Shack up or pack up, loser.” 

Mikasa glared at her. “Whatever. Pass me my book.”

“ _Our_ book.”

“Just give it to me.”

They spent the next two hours reading in silence. Finally Mikasa closed the manual.

“It’s late. We should go.”

Annie leaned languidly back against the roof tiles. “Not that late. It won’t hurt to stay a little longer.”

“And you’re sure we won’t get kicked out of school for this?”

“Please, I come up here all the time.”

“And when did you get that bright idea?”

“During my freshman year.” Annie gazed up at the clouds obscuring the night sky, and Mikasa noticed for the first time how stormy her eyes were. “I do mixed martial arts. Sometimes I come up here afterwards to unwind.”

“That’s a strange habit,” said Mikasa. 

Annie looked at her. “Maybe I’m a strange girl.”

Mikasa swallowed, lowering her eyes to where they caught on Annie’s lips. “Maybe I am too.”

They stared at each other, somehow closer than they’d been when they started the conversation. Mikasa could feel the heat of Annie’s thigh pressed against her own. Her skin prickled. 

Then Annie turned away, her face even more of a mask than it had been before.

“We should go,” she said. 

Mikasa only nodded. They lowered themselves over the edge, climbing back to the sidewalk below. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Annie took off walking the opposite direction.

“Wait,” Mikasa called, before she could stop herself. Annie hesitated, then whirled around. 

“Date me,” she said suddenly. 

Mikasa blinked. “What?”

“I want you to go on a date with me.” 

“Two hours ago you hated me.”

Annie shrugged. “True. It’s just a date, Ackerman, it’s not a lifetime commitment.”

There was a pause. 

“Yes,” said Mikasa.

Annie frowned. “Yes what?”

Mikasa shoved her. “Yes I’ll go on a date with you.”

A slow smirk broke out over Annie’s face.

“Good,” she said, and jogged back into the distance.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued! Stay tuned for part two on day 6: first kiss.


End file.
